Linnet Malfoy
by Hawka
Summary: Scorpius Malfoy's little sister enters Hogwarts, James Potter finds himself another little sister, can he help her adjust to a world where the majority of people hate her for her family name? Sorry, terrible summary.
1. Chapter 1: At the station

Someone had come into his room, pulled the curtains back and was now telling him he had to get up, as if the noise, light and presence of said person weren't enough of a clue! The person, his mother, was now shaking his shoulders and telling him firmly that if he made them late on Lily's first day he would regret it. James Potter sighed and opened his eyes, "okay, okay, I'm getting up."

As he walked into the kitchen he was assaulted by his little sister, already in her robes and horrendously excited. His brother Albus wasn't much better and by the time they finally made it out the house, later than planned but not too much so, he was feeling quite exhausted or at least acting exhausted. In reality he was just as excited as his younger siblings but at fourteen he felt it better not to show it. As they got in the car Albus mentioned that his best friend Scorpius had a little sister that would be joining this year too, "Maybe she'll end up friends with you and Hugo, you could you're your own terrible trio" Albus said, only half jokingly, James laughed but couldn't help hoping that Lily wouldn't get into too much trouble, he knew it was silly and that neither his parents or the Hogwarts teachers would actually hurt her but he couldn't help wanting to protect her despite the fact that she really didn't need it. With her vibrant green eyes and deep red hair she looked far from breakable, but he was her big brother and he knew she still had nightmares, that she was terrified she wouldn't be in the same house as Hugo or the Scamander twins and would have no friends, that she was dreading the classes and that although she was tough she was still an eleven year-old girl. So he was worried about how she'd react to Hogwarts and how Hogwarts would react to her.

They arrived at the station and moved quickly through the barrier, they were a little late and most of the Weasleys had already arrived. James quickly hugged his parent's goodbye, promised to come back for Lily before the train left and hurried over to join Louis and Fred. He noticed Hugo come hurrying up to Lily, shortly followed by the Scamanders, and felt a touch of amusement that his little sister was the calmest of the lot. He chatted to Fred and Louis for a few minutes only to be interrupted by Albus and Scorpius, the latter of which was dragging a terrified-looking girl by the hand. She was…tiny the only word he could think of, she was short and pixie framed, her skin was the Malfoy pale and she had the lightest, hugest blue eyes he had ever seen. To top it off she had Malfoy blond hair which she wore long and loose, it had a slight very non-Malfoy curl to it and was floating about her face. Her expression was so scared and she looked so fragile that his big brother instincts kicked in and he wanted to make whatever had hurt her go away and preferably cause it or them a lot of pain in the process. It didn't take him long to work out it must be Hogwarts that was scaring her and he resigned himself to the fact that he could not take on the beloved castle and make it stop scaring her. Albus finally spoke up, "James, this is Linnet Scorpius's sister; you remember I told you she was coming to Hogwarts this year. Linnet this is my brother James", the girl, Linnet's mouth opened and she stammered "...H-Hi, Nice… Nice to meet you" and actually managed a smile.

James couldn't help smiling back.


	2. Chapter 2: The First Sorting Surprise

James had returned to Lily soon after Scorpius and Linnet got called back by their worried father. She was ensconced in the middle of the group of family and accepted family that were starting Hogwarts that year, still managing to look the calmest of the lot, although now various parents were retrieving their off-spring for last minute talks or reminders she was looking more nervous, her excitement remaining undimmed.

His father pulled him to one side while his mother hugged Lily and told Albus to keep an eye on her and hugged him goodbye. He pulled his attention back to Harry who was asking him to please try to avoid quite so many detentions as he'd prefer Lily, at least, to manage to avoid too much trouble in her first year, and if James set her a good example it might actually happen. Once his father had finished this smiling lecture he gave James a quick hug, asked if he had the map and cloak safe and moved off to say farewell to his younger children. James, after a hug from his mother began moving his trunk towards the train, Lily in tow.

Once Lily had found a compartment and been joined by Hugo and Augusta Longbottom (who insisted on being known by her middle name, Ella) he moved down the train looking for Louis and Fred, hoping they'd found a compartment. He passed Albus and Scorpius, noticing that Linnet was no longer with them and hoping they'd made sure she was okay, she'd struck him as so very terrified. He found Louis and Fred a couple of compartments down joking with Mady Wood, a girl in their year. The train journey passed pleasantly, joking around with Fred and Louis, trying to impress Mady and her friend Amelia Boot, eating sweets and playing exploding snap. James also found the time to check on Lily, occasionally bumping into Rose, or Sarah (Augusta's older sister) checking on their own siblings, although he looked a couple of times he couldn't find Linnet and began to wonder if she'd got on the train at all. He was tempted to ask Scorpius but didn't want to suggest that the younger boy couldn't look after his sister.

The train finally arrived at the station and James, despite his temptation to find Lily swung himself down from the train and headed towards the houseless carriages. He, Louis and Fred secured one with Amelia and Mady.

When they finally arrived in the great hall and had settled down at the tables, Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, stood up to announce the sorting. Despite his firm belief that Lily would, of course, get into Gryfindor he still found himself sitting up straighter as she and the other first years filled in. He was relieved to notice Linnet among them, despite the fact that she looked whiter than ever, at least she'd got here. His thought process was interrupted by the start of the sorting.

"Boot, Maisie" a worried looking girl the image of Amelia stumbled up and sat on the stool. The hat took a few minutes to decide but finally called out "Hufflepuff". James glanced at Amelia who looked disappointed but not surprised before turning back to the sorting.

Various people went to various houses before another sorting caught his attention, "Longbottom, Augusta" the hat took barely a second to decide before "Gryfindor" was called out. Delighted cheers erupted from his family and the Longbottoms (who were family so the distinction was hardly worth making) and Ella practically danced down to her seat. A couple more then "Malfoy, Linnet" James sat up straighter and watched as Linnet moved across to the sorting hat, for someone who looked as horrified as she did she moved surprisingly gracefully, the hat dropped to her shoulders, she really was tiny. Nothing happened for a very long time, people were begging to murmur, wondering what the hold-up was, she was a Malfoy, surely she belonged in Slytherin! James felt butterflies beginning to twist his stomach and told himself he was being stupid. Then, finally the hat spoke, yelling out "Gryfindor".

The silence that followed was deafening.


	3. Chapter 3: The Second Sorting Surprise

However, despite the silence that had fallen at the announcement that the youngest Malfoy wouldn't be in Slytherin, Linnet, to James mild surprise lifted the hat off, passed it to Professor Flitwick and walked quickly to the Gryfindor table. It was only when she reached it that she hesitated and the previous nerves showed in her face again. James, realising what the problem was, shifted over and signalled to the seat next to him; she sat down quickly and flashed him a grateful smile before glancing across at her brother and mouthing what looked like an apology. Scorpius winced, and then grinned back but continued to look worried and James wondered what the exchange meant.

As the sorting continued with "Macmillan, Jenny" (a Gryfindor) James noticed Linnet shrinking into her seat and glancing across the table saw several girls, friends of Lucy and Roxanne he thought, glaring at her and whispering to each other. James couldn't stand bullying or discrimination in any form and found himself glaring back and making a mental note to ask one of his cousins to tell them to leave Linnet alone. The girls seemed surprised, and one of them was defiantly angry.

She seemed about to say something when "Potter, Lily" rang out and James turned quickly away to watch his sister advance on the sorting hat. The hat dropped over her eyes but not nearly as far as it had on Linnet. The hat took a long time and after the first few minutes muttering began to fill the hall. People were clearly wondering why it was taking so long to sort a Potter. James glanced over at Albus exchanging a worried look, and Louis, from beside him, muttered a reassurance. The hat continued to talk to Lily, James began to wonder if they'd forgotten that they were in the sorting.

Then, finally, the hat yelled out "Slytherin". The silence that fell this time was absolute. James felt shock fill his body, sharply followed by denial and then, to his vague surprise he was on his feet yelling it must be a mistake. Albus had followed suit. James was aware that the rest of his family was beginning to follow suit and that the Headmistress was rapidly losing her temper, but his main focus was on his sister.

Lily…, Lily didn't look disappointed, in fact she looked sort of pleased. However, that apparent pleasure was fading and being replaced by an odd combination of utter mortification, worry and fear. It took James about three seconds after the change to realise that it was him and the rest of family causing the change and to quickly sit down pulling Louis down with him; flashing Lily a look of apology.

After he'd hissed "Look at Lily" into Louis's ear and Louis had quickly passed it on the rest of the family soon followed suit. Lily a look of relief spreading across her face moved quickly over to the Slytherin table where Scorpius made room for her. James then realised he ought to apologise to Scorpius as well as Lily and made a mental note to do so.

Thinking about Scorpius led James to remember Linnet and to look towards her in horror, hoping that he hadn't upset her with his little display. She was somehow managing to look even smaller and she looked terrified again. James felt a huge wash of guilt as he realised he'd caused the return of her fear. It was becoming rapidly obvious to him that she was scared of being hated and bullied, and as it became obvious to him, he became more and more determined to protect her from both those things.

So he leaned across to her and murmured (as the sorting resumed) "Sorry about that, I expected her to be in Gryfindor where I could keep an eye on her and help her out, it was a bit of a shock to find out I wouldn't be able to. Now that I'm thinking straight I'm glad she's in the same house as your brother he'll look after her.", it wasn't entirely true, he really didn't want her in Slytherin but the look of relief and the return of trust to Linnet's face, combined with the fact that he did trust Scorpius to keep an eye on Lily meant it was easily worth it.

James turned back towards the sorting as "Scamander, Lorcan" was called out. Lorcan went to Gryfindor while his twin went to Ravenclaw. Then finally, "Weasly, Hugo", went to the delight of his family to Gryfindor.

James glanced across the tables as th feast started to his sister and Scorpius, Scorpius was murmuring something to her and Lily was smiling back. As he watched Scorpius looked up and caught his eye, tipping his head to indicate Linnet, James nodded firmly, understanding the gesture to be a request to look after her, he made the same gesture towards Lily and Scorpius mouthed "Of course" back.

James grinned and glanced at Linnet. It looked like he and Scorpius were going to swapping sisters for a while.


	4. Chapter 4: The First Night

**This chapter is for pixiestixz, my first reviewer, thank you :). **

**Hope you all like the chapter.**

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James couldn't sleep. It often happened on the first night back, the bed was unfamiliar the noises of the other boys loud in the silence and excitement about being back clashing with worry about the upcoming year made sleep entirely impossible. With a sigh James gave up and grabbing a book from his bedside table slipped down to the common room.

He arrived in the common room and took a seat in the armchair next to the fire bending over his book, he'd only read a few pages when a murmur from a nearby couch nearly made him drop it, turning he saw Linnet asleep and apparently having some sort of nightmare. He had no idea what she was doing down here (although he had a suspicion Jenny Macmillan had something to do with it – she'd been shooting Linnet nasty looks all the way up to the tower and her sister, Anna, was one of the girls who'd been glaring at her at the table.) but she was obviously distressed and her movements were getting more violent, her murmurs louder, so he reached down to try to wake her up. He'd always hated it when either of his younger siblings got nightmares and it was one of the few things he didn't tease Albus about and seeing Linnet, who particularly now she was asleep looked so very vulnerable, in the throws of a particularly nasty one brought out half a dozen protective instincts. So he reached down and shook her shoulder saying her name. She sat up so fast she almost fell off, he grabbed her shoulder, catching her and a book tumbled from her lap to the ground. She stared at him in horror for about a minute then her expression became utterly confused; it made her look much younger than eleven. It was also quite amusing: she looked so shocked to see him and he wondered who normally woke her up, or if she was aware she'd woken up.

"Linnet?" She just continued to stare. "Linnet, it's me, James, James Potter, Albus's brother" to his slight irritation at this last one recognition flared in her eyes and she blinked and apologised. James shook it off, then couldn't help but ask her why she was in the common room so late. At this she smiled and replied with "Why are you in the common room so late?" Her smile was infectious and once again James couldn't help but smiled back, feeling vaguely surprised at her willingness to throw the question back.

"I asked you first!" he finally responded, and she sighed, " I thought you might say that", her smile had faded and she seemed to be searching for words, eventually James took pity on her and asked if the girls in her dorm were the problem. Her sigh and the way she gripped her left wrist and stretched out her arm (a gesture he already recognised as a nervous habit) told him he was right and her words confirmed it "Not all of them, Ella was really nice and tried to make them stop and Lucy doesn't know what's going on – she's muggleborn – but Jenny really hates me and Angela and Marigold seem to as well. It just seemed easier to wait till they'd all gone to sleep" she was looking down at her hands as she finished. James felt anger bubbling up but quickly suppressed it; him going off the deep end wouldn't help anyone and would probably alarm Linnet. Realising there was nothing he could do to help right now he changed the subject.

"Do you often have nightmares?" He'd been wondering since he'd woken her and she'd looked so terrified then so confused. He'd expected a negative so was surprised when she looking down again, nodded. "Nearly every night, normally I find Scorpius but…" She trailed off and James nodded understanding, suddenly worried about Lily again; she didn't often have nightmares but when she did they were really bad, normally she'd come climb into bed with him afterwards, unable to sleep, apparently Linnet had a similar reaction, just she had more regular nightmares.

James sighed and wondered if Scorpius would mind Lily climbing in with him when she was scared, he hoped not, he hated to think of his little sister on her own and terrified. Turning back to Linnet he realised that he could offer her the comfort of someone she could curl up to and with a sudden grin that she eyed somewhat suspiciously he caught up her wrist and pulled her to her feet "Come on", her suspicion changed to confusion as he pulled her towards his dorm stairs, then understanding at which point she tried to pull away muttering that he shouldn't be silly, that she was fine and that it would stop him sleeping. In response he told her he wasn't, she wasn't and that Lily, his sister did it all the time so he was used to. However, she continued to resist until he explained that he was hoping Scorpius would let Lily do the same thing and therefore needed to offer her the same comfort. At this point she allowed him to drag her up the stairs to his dorm and curled up against him, quickly falling asleep with the knowledge someone was nearby.

James smiled down at the tiny creature, so different from his sister and yet in some ways so similar. He slipped his arm round her and as she nestled closer, fell asleep thinking about his tiny new sister.


	5. Chapter 5: Breakfast

**Appologies for the late update and terrible chapter. I've had a very busy week.**

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James, Fred and Louis hurried into the Great Hall, (James had over-slept making all three late down) and as Fred and Louis threw themselves into seats James was surprised and relieved to see Linnet sitting with Ella, Hugo and the Scamanders. She'd left early in the morning, no doubt to sneak back into her dorm and dodge any awkward questions. She seemed less tense than usual, although that didn't mean she looked relaxed. She was scanning the hall, obviously looking for someone and seemed both pleased and relieved to spot him, she flashed him a warm if shy smile that he returned as he swung himself into a seat, then she continued to scan the hall.

He just had time to wonder who she was looking for before her face spilt into a relieved smile and he turned around to see her brother, Lily in tow, heading towards them. As Scorpius passed them Albus and Rose called hello to him, he returned the greeting as he reached Linnet. He pulled her into a tight hug, surprising James who hadn't thought he'd show such obvious affection and also found himself vaguely surprised Linnet didn't flinch. He quickly realised that in light of his previous conversation with her this was foolish because if she curled up against him when she had nightmares it was unlikely either one of them had a problem being hugged. As he thought this he reached up to Lily and pulled her into a matching hug before quietly asking her if she was okay, he had, after the feast, found her and reassured her that he and the family had no problem with her being in Slytherin that it had just been shock. Now as she tried to reassure him that she was okay he found himself asking if the girls in her dorm had been nice, or at least not overtly nasty, Lily nodded, then sighed saying that "Kate Goyle and Alyssa Greenly obviously don't want me there but Eliza Flint is pretty friendly, her older brother's in Gryfindor so she obviously accepts that family doesn't dictate house, Jessica Zabini's family is very anti-house-divide so she's trying to be friendly but is also trying not to upset the other girls." Lily's description of her dorm's politics was delivered in her characteristically rapid speech and as she finished James noticed Scorpius and Linnet having a similar conversation; however in their conversation Linnet's speech was halting and Scorpius's expression darkening.

James was confident Lily could deal with her dorm problems but that wouldn't (and didn't) stop him, later that day, finding Kate and Alyssa and asking them to give Lily a chance (he didn't threaten them; they _were_ eleven year old girls). He also found Eliza and thanked her for not letting Lily's surname prejudice her. However, he didn't mention these plans to Lily and simply murmured the reassurances he knew she didn't need and jokingly offered to hex them. Lily laughed at him and realising that Professor Nott (the Slytherin Head) was handing out schedules hurried away.

As his sister left he was surprised to find Scorpius approaching him while Linnet received her schedule from Professor Longbottom (Ella's father), Scorpius swung himself into the seat next to him and thanked him for looking out for Linnet, he seemed about to say something more but Albus had approached him and started asking him about schedules and classes.

As Scorpius left Professor Longbottom reached him, Louis and Fred and handed them their schedules with a request not to cause too much chaos this term, please. They responded with variations on the theme of "Yes, Professor" and once he'd left turned to the topic of just how and when to cause just that chaos. When James glanced up he realised Linnet, Ella and the rest of the first years he knew had gone. Probably to avoid being late he decided and suggested to his friends that they make a move. They headed to Defence against the Dark Arts continuing their discussion of the topic.

By the time they'd reached the class they had decided that as they all had a hefty stock of Weasly Wizard Wheezes products they could do something really dramatic and although they weren't sure of the details had decided that whatever the prank was it should involve fireworks, and lots of them, and possibly a scattering of fake school books (that, when opened screamed and tried to run away).

James pleased with their plans and looking forward to their effect on the Hogwarts population settled down to a day of classes, only wondering every now and again if Linnet would have nightmares again and if he'd ever get to know anymore about the girl that despite their extremely limited interaction he was already very fond of.


	6. Chapter 6: Break

**Sorry for the late update, a combination of writer's block, busy week then an internet failure caused it. I won't be going hrough each day in quite this much detail, don't worry, but I want to do the first few like this, sorry. Hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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After an interesting lesson on various protective spells James, Louis and Fred headed to the room of requirement, which their family and friends had used as a meeting place since Victoire was put into a different house to Teddy. It mostly materialised as a large comfortable room, although occasionally it sectioned out to accommodate various desires for privacy. On arrival James was startled to find Linnet once again present, she was sitting with Ella, Hugo and the Scamanders, Lily had joined them and to his surprise so had Eliza Flint. They all appeared to be getting on fine, Linnet and Lily were laughing at something Lorcan (he thought it was Lorcan) had said, Eliza was chatting to Ella, and Hugo and Lysander were rolling their eyes at Lorcan.

Most of the rest of his family and friends had already arrived, a few were late, and a few were doing other things. As he, Fred and Louis headed towards a newly formed alcove complete with comfortable chairs, he noticed his cousins Roxanne and Lucy sitting in their normal group with Mathew Longbottom and the three girls that had been giving Linnet a hard time a the feast. He considered going over to them but they weren't paying Linnet any attention and he didn't want to bring her to their attention, she looked happier than he'd ever seen her (to be fair, his experience was limited) and he didn't want to damage that.

He, Louis and Fred sat themselves down in their alcove and began to plan out their first prank, they were making good progress when Roxanne's group started to argue, which distracted James because he heard both Lily and Linnet's names. It was clear after a few minuets of listening that Anna (Jenny's older sister) had started the argument and that they were arguing because Anna wanted Jenny to be told about the room of requirement and allowed to join the group when they gathered in their free time; Roxanne was returning the argument that Jenny wasn't friends with any family members, or accepted family members and Anna was asking why Linnet was allowed in then to which Roxanne gave a rather complicated reply pointing out that she was friends with Ella, Hugo, the Scamanders and was rapidly becoming friends with Lily during which she was obviously trying very hard not to point out that Scorpius had become almost family despite his parenthood and Linnet would have been invited to join them had she been in Slytherin and known no one. There use of the room of requirement worked because they asked the room to give them a room to fulfil their needs and then charmed the door so no one but those invited by the Weasly or Potters, or those they considered family could enter. It was an arrangement that worked well and meant they didn't have to be too careful about who they invited to join them because they never told anyone except those they completely trusted exactly how the room worked, it had seemed calculating to James but he understood that Teddy had introduced the custom after one of his friends fell out with him and he kept coming into the room or getting there first and turning the room into one that locked Teddy out. Teddy immensely frustrated introduced the security measures so that the room became a safe, stress free retreat for his family, rather than a point of contention.

James listening to the argument continue, particularly combined with Roxanne's repeated attempts to diplomatically diffuse the situation, amused James until Anna screamed out "Fine, let's ask them why she wasn't invited" jumped to her feet and stormed over to Linnet and Ella. She addressed the later and demanded why exactly 'Augusta' (never a good idea) had seen fit to exclude her little sister and why in the world had she invited 'this little snake' (pointing at Linnet) in her place. The room erupted. Roxanne and Lucy were yelling at Anna telling her not to be an idiot and to apologise to Linnet, Mathew and Sarah were shouting at her to leave _their_ little sister alone, Scorpius was warning her to stay away from _his_ little sister, the first years were all yelling at Anna (except Linnet who was shrinking into her chair looking more terrified by the second), and the rest of the room was all shouting along similar themes. James let it continue for about a minute before reaching for his wand and setting off a loud bang and a shower of sparks. "Okay, okay! That's enough!" Various tried to interrupt him until he set of another bang and in the following quiet asked Molly (as one of the two prefects present) to sort it out. As she made her way towards Anna and Roxanne, James forced his way through to Lily, Linnet, Ella and the rest. Lily looked half upset, half furious, Ella looked completely angry, Linnet looked terrified and Hugo and the Scamanders had various combinations of upset, Angry and scared across their faces. All of those with siblings were being comforted and/or calmed down, the Scamanders were doing a good job of comforting/calming down each other but Louis and Fred had made their way over to help. James walked over to Lily and began to help Albus calm her down, once he had succeeded, he moved over to help Scorpius with Linnet, she looked tiny again, when she laughed and smiled she seemed far less vulnerable, when she upset or scared she looked much younger than she was and much more fragile. Scorpius seemed to be calming her down a little, but when she noticed him making his way towards her, she seemed to become more scared, he couldn't help but feel slightly hurt, all he'd done was help her and now she was scared of him! However, as he reached her she began to apologise, saying she hadn't meant to cause a problem, apologising and asking if she could still stay because she really liked Ella and Hugo and the rest, it only took about thirty seconds to realise that she was scared of being thrown out, and upon realising that she wasn't scared of him and that she thought they might blame her for the argument found himself laughing. She looked at him in confusion (which was better than fear) and glanced at her brother who was glaring at him. He finally calmed own enough to reassure her that they did not, in any way blame her for the argument and that they did not, in any way wish to throw her out. She looked at him for a moment before giving him a relieved smile and an apology for being an idiot, he shook it off and as he rose the bell rang and the room became a flurry of movement as people headed off to lessons. James rummaged for his things and just as he was about to head off for History of Magic was stopped by Ella and Lily, with the rest in tow, asking where potions was. James quickly directed them to the dungeons and, hoping they got there on time ran after Fred and Louis to History of Magic.


	7. Chapter 7: Lunch

**Sorry about the late update and awful chapter, I've been really busy. There probally won't be another update for at least two weeks, then it should be about weekly. Sorry again and I hope you enjoy it.**

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After a dull History of Magic lesson that was still taught by Professor Binns, which James, Louis and Fred spent playing hang-man, embellishing their prank and whispering to their dorm mates, the twins Zach and Chris Thomas. Once they had finally been released. They headed down to diner as a group, with Amelia and Mady.

James noted with a touch of concern that none of the first year Gryffindors or Slytherins appeared to have arrived. He spotted Al, Rose and Scorpius seating together at the Gryffindor table (this wasn't forbidden but was generally frowned upon) all clearly scanning the hall for their siblings. James found himself getting more and more worried as he ate his dinner, finally, nearly twenty minutes after they'd entered the hall there was a clatter from the door way and several groups of first years entered. James was relieved to see that the largest group contained his sisters and was the group from the room of requirement. He also noted that the other groups seemed hostile and that the Scamander twins were missing.

He waved and saw various people from the group grinning back at him. The entire lot of them headed towards him while the other groups split of towards other tables. Jenny Macmillan passed the group just before they came into earshot of him, she murmured something to Linnet who flushed and seemed to shrink, while Ella snapped something back at Jenny. However by the time the group reached him and Scorpius, Al and Rose had joined them everyone seemed in good spirits. Scorpius grinned at his sister and as they all tumbled into seats (the Slytherins joined them) asked her how potions had gone. To James surprise Linnet laughed in response, he didn't think he'd heard her laugh before, it was a sweet sound but controlled without the carefree note that's Lily's laughter had always possessed and he found himself wondering why. Before he could get very far along that particular train of thought however Lily had replied for Linnet and was amid laughs describing the disaster that had befallen the Scamander twins. It seemed Lorcan had added the wrong sort of roots and his potion had exploded, landing both him and Lysander as the closest to the cauldron in the hospital wing as the harmless but rather embarrassing problem of their ever lengthening ears, teeth and noses rendered them unable to attend Lunch. Their potion had affected everyone else but to lesser extents and Madam Chang had quickly fixed them up, however Lysander and Lorcan had to stay because they would take longer to fix, the reason they were late was because Professor Nott had kept them all back in order to discuss the importance of adding the right roots, and so he could mark the surviving potions.

At this point Hugo interrupted to say; in apparent delight that Linnet's potion had won her 20 points for Gryfindor for being "one of the best potions produced by a first year student Professor Nott had ever seen". James grinned at Linnet, aware that Scorpius was doing the same thing and saw her shy smile in response. The remainder of Lunch continued pleasantly until they all rose to head to their next lesson. Jenny and her friends (James thought they were probably the Angela and Marigold mentioned the previous night) banged hard into Linnet as she walked out of the great hall, causing her to drop her bag, spilling its contents across the doorway. Jenny and her friends continued on their way to Herbology with a snide comment about clumsiness while Linnet began to gather her books up while trying not to block the door way, James could see the blush that spread up her cheeks as various people tripped over her and told her to get out the way; he resisted cursing Jenny and went to help her accompanied by the rest of the first years. They got it done quickly and James returned to Louis and Fred who had been directing people around the mess in the doorway. After directing the first years to Herbology and noticing the way Linnet seemed to have shrunk again, she had her head ducked and her shoulders hunched, and seemed to be concentrating on her feet. He turned with Fred and Louis to head towards Defence against the Dark Arts, wondering whether he'd find her in common room late that night as well. He suspected he would.


End file.
